SELECT COMMITTEE ON WORKING FAMILIES IN THE A CT Interim Report
MARCH 2006
Report 1
INTERIM REPORT 1
Committee Membership
Mr Mick Gentleman, MLA (Chair)
Ms Mary Porter AM MLA (Deputy Chair)
Mrs Jacqui Burke MLA
Secretariat
Ms Ellie Eggerking, Secretary
Ms Linzi Lamont, Administrative Assistant
Contact Information
Telephone: (02) 6205 0129
Facsimile: (02) 6205 0432
Post: GPO Box 1020
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.parliament.act.gov.au/committees
2 SELECT COMMITTEE ON WORKING FAMILIES IN THE ACT
Resolution of Appointment
On 5 May 2005, the Legislative Assembly for the ACT resolved to establish a Select Committee on Working Families in the Australian Capital Territory, with the Select Committee to be composed of:
(a) two members to be nominated by the Government; and
(b) one member to be nominated by the Opposition.1
The Legislative Assembly further resolved that the Select Committee would provide the Assembly with interim reports on its progress before providing its substantive report by the first sitting day in August 2006.2
Terms of Reference
The terms of reference for the Select Committee on Working Families in the ACT are: to examine the effect on working families in relation to health costs, effects of industrial relations changes, adjustments by the Commonwealth Grants Commission and the allocation of funds by the Commonwealth, impacts on current or potential ACT legislation by the Commonwealth and any other related matter.3
1 Legislative Assembly for the ACT, Minutes of Proceedings No. 19, 5 May 2005, p. 169 2 ibid, p. 169 3 ibid, p. 169 INTERIM REPORT 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Committee Membership...... 1 Secretariat ...... 1 Contact Information ...... 1 Resolution of Appointment ...... 2 Terms of Reference ...... 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... 3
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 5
1 INTRODUCTION ...... 7 Conduct of the Inquiry...... 9 Outline of the Interim Report ...... 10
2 BACKGROUND ...... 13 Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005...... 13 Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 ...... 17 Workplace Relations Amendment (Better Bargaining) Bill 2005...... 19
3 SUBMISSIONS TO THE INQUIRY ...... 21 ACT Council of Social Services...... 21 ACT Government...... 23 ACT Human Rights Office ...... 25 ACT and Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry...... 26 Australian Education Union ...... 27 Community and Public Sector Union...... 30 Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union...... 31 Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union...... 33 Transport Workers Union...... 34 UnionsACT ...... 36
4 KEY ISSUES OF WORK CHOICES ...... 39 Australia’s International Obligations ...... 40 The Experiences of New Zealand, Victoria and Western Australia...... 43 Consultation...... 45 Small and Medium Businesses ...... 47 4 SELECT COMMITTEE ON WORKING FAMILIES IN THE ACT
Labour Issues ...... 49 Social Issues...... 54
5 CONCLUSION...... 63
6 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ...... 69
APPENDIX A: LIST OF SUBMISSIONS...... 71
APPENDIX B: LIST OF WITNESSES ...... 73 Public Hearing 1 December 2005...... 73 Public Hearing 8 December 2005...... 73
INTERIM REPORT 5
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
RECOMMENDATION 1 1.21 The terms of reference for the select committee on Working Families in the ACT be amended.
RECOMMENDATION 2 1.22 The amended terms of reference be: The select committee on Working Families in the Australian Capital Territory is appointed to examine: the effect on working families in the ACT of changes to industrial relations legislation, with particular reference to: a) the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005; b) the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005; c) the Workplace Relations Amendment (Better Bargaining) Bill 2005; and the impact of these changes on current or potential ACT legislation any other related matter.
RECOMMENDATION 3 5.7 The select committee provide its substantive report to the Legislative Assembly by the first sitting day in August 2007.
RECOMMENDATION 4 5.8 The committee recommends that the ACT government provide resources for research support for the Select Committee on Working Families, in order that the effects on working families in the ACT can be adequately assessed and to enable the final report to be tabled by the revised date. 6 SELECT COMMITTEE ON WORKING FAMILIES IN THE ACT
INTERIM REPORT 7
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 When the Australian constitution was enacted in the early twentieth century, state industrial relations systems had already been established. The constitution gave the federal parliament the authority to make laws with respect to “the conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of interstate disputes extending beyond the limits of any one State”.4 Since that time, each Australian state has operated its own system of industrial relations in parallel with a federal system. Under these parallel systems, most employers and employees are regulated by state laws and state awards, while a minority of employers and employees in each state are covered under federal laws and awards. Industrial relations in Australian territories are governed by federal law.
1.2 Generally speaking, the federal and state systems have operated similarly. Both systems are based on compulsory conciliation and arbitration by industrial tribunals, which make awards and set minimum wages and conditions for a large proportion of the workforce. In the 1990s, both systems “shifted their emphasis away from awards and towards enterprise bargaining”.5
1.3 Early in 2005, in a speech to the Business Council of Australia, the Prime Minister, John Howard, indicated the Australian government’s intention to pursue industrial relations reform once the Coalition controlled both houses of the Australian parliament from 1 July 2005.
1.4 He said: And one of the things that this control of the Senate will enable us to do…is to implement so many of the things that in the past we’ve had
4 Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900, Chapter 1, Part V, Section 51 (xxxv), www.aph.gov.au/senate/general/constitution/par5cha1.htm 5 Roth, Lenny, “The New Federal Workplace Relations System”, NSW Parliamentary Library Research Service, Briefing Paper No 2/06, p. 4 8 SELECT COMMITTEE ON WORKING FAMILIES IN THE ACT
blocked in the Senate…there’s no issue I’ve had more interest in and commitment to policy wise than reform of our industrial relations system.6
1.5 In a ministerial statement to the House of Representatives on 26 May 2005, the Prime Minister outlined the government’s plan for industrial relations’ reform:
The government’s reform proposals include: New arrangements for setting minimum wages and conditions; A more streamlined process for the making of workplace agreements, both individual and collective; Greater award simplification and a more focused role for the Australian Industrial Relations Commission; Major liberalisation of unfair dismissal laws, which have held back job growth in Australia; and, finally The goal of a national industrial relations system – one that reflects the competitive national character of the Australian economy in the year 2005.7
1.6 The issue of national reform to the industrial relations system was raised in the Legislative Assembly on 5 May 2005, when Mr Gentleman’s notice of motion to establish a Select Committee on Working Families in the ACT appeared on the Notice Paper.8
1.7 The Legislative Assembly resolved to establish a Select Committee on Working Families in the ACT and resolved, also, that the committee “provide interim reports on its progress”.9
1.8 As required by the Legislative Assembly’s resolution of 5 May 2005, this is the first interim report of the select ommittee.
6 Howard, John, Address to the Business Council of Australia, Aitken Hill, Melbourne, 3 March 2005, pp 2-3 http://www.pm.gov.au/news/speeches/speech1263.html 7 Howard, John, Ministerial Statement to the House of Representatives, 25 May 2005, p. 39 http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr260505.pdf 8 ACT Legislative Assembly, Notice Paper No 18, 5 May 2005, p. 266 http://www.parliament.act.gov.au/assembly/notices/NP018.pdf 9 ACT Legislative Assembly, Debates Weekly Hansard, Sixth Assembly, 3, 4, 5, 6 May 2005, p. 1844 INTERIM REPORT 9
Conduct of the Inquiry
1.9 At its meeting on 15 September 2005, the select committee approved a letter to stakeholders which: outlined the terms of reference of the inquiry10; requested that submissions to the inquiry be forwarded by 3 November 2005; and indicated that public hearings would be held later in the year.11
1.10 At its meeting on 3 November, the select committee resolved to: extend the deadline for the receipt of submissions to 30 November 2005;12 hold public hearings on 1 December 2005 and 8 December 2005; and place advertisements in The Canberra Times and City News advising the Canberra community of the public hearings. 13
1.11 Advertisements appeared in The Canberra Times on 19 and 23 November and in City News on 24 November. The public hearings, and other details of the select committee’s inquiry, were also advertised on the Legislative Assembly website.
1.12 A list of submissions received appears at Appendix A.
1.13 A list of witnesses who gave evidence at the public hearings appears at Appendix B.
10 Stakeholders were advised that because the Australian Government had not announced specific details of its proposed Work Choices legislation, submissions should be confined to comment on the Workplace Relations Amendment (Better Bargaining) Bill 2005 and the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005. 11 Select Committee on Working Families in the ACT, Minutes of Meeting No 6, 15 September 2005, p 1 12 The deadline was extended because the Australian Government introduced its Work Choices legislation on 2 November 2005 and hence details of the extent of the proposed reforms were available. Stakeholders were advised in an email from the Chair on 8 November 2005 that the deadline had been extended and that their submissions should include comment on all aspects of the inquiry’s terms of reference. 13 Select Committee on Working Families in the ACT, Minutes of Meeting No 7, 3 November 2005, pp. 1-2 10 SELECT COMMITTEE ON WORKING FAMILIES IN THE ACT
Outline of the Interim Report
1.14 Although stakeholders were asked to address all aspects of the inquiry’s terms of reference in submissions (see footnotes 7 and 9 above) and were able to discuss any and all parts of the terms of reference during the public hearings, comments in submissions and discussion in public hearings focused on the Workplace Relations Amendment (Better Bargaining) Bill 2005, the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 and the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act 2005. The last of these legislative changes commanded the greatest attention in submissions and at public hearings.
1.15 Stakeholders did not refer to the following aspects of the Inquiry’s terms of reference: